out of my head, on to the screen

My Snowy, Pot-Smoking, Olympics-Watching Valentine

It’s been a week or two since I’ve made the time to sit down and write. About this time of year, school starts to get insanely busy. And at this time, every year, I start to beat myself up for volunteering for so much extracurricular crap. But lo and behold, every year I sign on for the same stuff, PLUS some. What is that? What drives some people to “yes” themselves to death? Can I PLEASE say NO someday? Probably not. ::Sigh::

Anyway, the beautiful thing about this week was the double-barrelled nor-easter we got up here in NY. School was closed Thursday and Friday, and we also have tomorrow off for Presidents’ Day. Thanks for being born, George and Abe! I’ve been able to spend time in my house, getting all the stuff done that I’ve put off for weeks. I vacuumed the dust bunnies that collect in the corner of the stairs. (In this case, they were more like dust elephants.) I washed the glass panes in our kitchen door. I forgot you are supposed to be able to see THROUGH glass, not just see the dog’s paw and nose prints every time you look at it. I also graded a stack of mid-terms that I’ve been carrying around with the best of intentions since they were taken on January 30th. Oy.

I was also able to spend a very sweet Valentine’s Day with my wife. However, when we woke up on Friday and I realized we both had a snow day, I panicked. In true Bethany form, I planned to purchase my gifts for her on Friday on my way home from school. Why accomplish things early when I can do them late? Ooops. So I rushed out before the second onslaught of snow and ice to get together a random collection of stuff I thought she might like. A couple pounds of Starbucks coffee, a new travel mug, some Lindt truffles, and some bath salts. Phew. Luckily, she’s easy to shop for.

We decided to put off the gift exchange until the evening, and get the dirty work (shoveling) done first. The fruits of our labor:

The house looked a lot taller earlier in the week. Hmmm.

After shoveling, we committed ourselves to an evening of pure relaxation. We traded gifts (She loved the random bags of stuff, and she got me tickets to see The Moth live in Albany!), enjoyed some mellow and relaxing herb I just purchased from my best friend (Don’t you love euphemisms for weed?), took a jacuzzi bath, and sat our asses on the couch and watched the Olympics. We were in bed by 8:30pm. An exciting Valentine’s Day? Certainly not. A wonderful and loving one? Most definitely.